WAYNE COUNTY, Utah – Two people are dead after a crash in Wayne County on Thursday morning.
Utah Highway Patrol says a Jeep Wrangler was traveling eastbound on SR-24 at around 8:30 Thursday morning when it drifted to the left, then over-corrected, ran off the right shoulder of the road and struck a guardrail.
The Jeep then crossed over the eastbound lanes and into the westbound lanes where four motorcycles were traveling as a group.
Two of the motorcycles were able to swerve and avoid the Jeep, but the Jeep collided with the other two. One of those motorcycles was bushed off the westbound shoulder of the vehicle. The Jeep ran over the top of second motorcycle and its two occupants, rupturing the motorcycle’s fuel tank.
The collision caused both the Jeep and the second motorcycle to burst into flames. The Jeep flipped over into the eastbound lane, landing on its top.
The driver of the Jeep, Tanner Giles, 17, of Loa, Utah, was not wearing his seat belt and was ejected. He was transported to the hospital for treatment.
The two occupants on the second motorcycle, Diane and Bill Mitchell, both 64, of Tucscon, Ariz., died in the crash.
The driver of the other motorcycle was taken to a local hospital with unknown injuries.
The cause of the incident is under investigation, but UHP says speed was not a factor and the driver of the Jeep was not impaired.
